So she was sorry for ignoring Jerry and thought that it led to his demise. But nowadays Spy Gal just kepp ignoring him. She didn’t even speak a word to Jerry she just slapped him. And he is dangerously ticking time bomb. I don’t understand how more ridiculous and cruel she could be.

As uncomfortable I was with Jerry’s controlling behaviour in the immediately prior strip, I’m not happy about the slap either. I dunno. The whole thing between Jerry and Spy Gal is a ticking time bomb. I’m just going to wait and see how it plays out.

I’m absolutely fascinated by everyone’s takeaway from this little scene. I’ve seen everything from “Finally!” to “Not cool, Spy Gal.” I love that the opinions are so varied. I’m curious to see whether future strips in this chapter change anyone’s mind.

In my humble opinion, you don’t do that to a “ticking time bomb” unless you *want* it to go off. Spygal may have been pissed off, but I think that the slap was calculated for effect. What effect? who knows? Personal or strategic? It’s just that “I know” from a sophisticated leader with a long lifetime of experience seems kind of like it was just an assessment of a data point rather than some kind of emotional expostulation.

Ignoring moral implications for a moment, the pacing of the slap felt really wrong. She took the time to apologize for him, and then slapped him without him saying anything else. It felt like if she was going to slap him, then the slap should have come first, and the apologizing for him afterwards.

I think you’ve touched on something important here. The pacing is most definitely “wrong.” And I think JE above offers a probable explanation as to why. If the slap came before the apology, then it would be a much more impassioned, reactionary thing. Since it comes afterwards, it’s got a much different character to it.